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Emory University has been selected to receive $600,000 from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study patient-centered care.

Edmund R. Becker, professor of Health Policy and Management at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, will lead the two-year research project. The Emory project will focus on patient-centered care in hospital settings.

Patient-centered care is health care that establishes a partnership among delivery systems, practitioners, patients and their families to ensure, when appropriate, that decisions respect patients’ wants, needs and preferences and the providers solicit patients’ input on the education and support they need to make decisions and participate in their own care.

There is a growing body of evidence that shows that patient-centered care has important benefits for patients through improved communication, more appropriate interventions, enhanced satisfaction, and better reported outcomes.

"With patient-centered care becoming one of the foundations of high-quality hospital care, it is essential that policymakers, hospital leaders, and hospital patients and providers understand the implications in the hospital setting," says Becker.

"Our study will analyze hospital patient admissions in 14 states in 2009-2010 for heart attacks, congestive heart failure and pneumonia and evaluate how patient-centered care and aspects of the hospital’s structure and processes impact patient outcomes and satisfaction. In particular, we will focus on how variations in patient’s race and ethnicity, payer mix, age, gender and chronic conditions influence patient-centered assessments."

Funding has been approved pending completion of a business review and a formal award agreement with PCORI.

PCORI is an independent, non-profit organization whose establishment was authorized by Congress in 2010. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information needed to make better-informed health care decisions.

"The Pilot Projects will improve our understanding of how to conduct research and disseminate research findings in ways that are more responsive to the needs of patients and the health care community," said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby.

"We are excited to be funding 50 projects nationwide, led by creative and innovative researchers. Their work will help us establish a foundation for patient-centered outcomes research that will give patients, caregivers and clinicians the tools they need every day."

PCORI is committing $30 million in funding over two years for the pilot projects, which were selected by PCORI‘s Board of Governors through a competitive, multi-stage review process. Proposals were evaluated for their scientific merit and rigor and fit within eight areas of interest outlined in the pilot projects announcement.

Awards, approved for research institutions in 24 states and the District of Columbia, include those for projects designed to develop a range of tools and techniques aimed at improving patient-centered care and decision-making; create new patient-centered care measures; and improve delivery of patient-centered counseling and care in various health care settings.

For more information about the PCORI Pilot Projects, visit www.pcori.org.